AdHoc Committee for Restructure

Introduction

The Structure

In 2013, the 2012-2015 Episcopal Church Women Board established a committee to address Resolution 101/104. The committee, known as the Ad Hoc Committee for Restructure, was comprised of nine women, each representing a province of The Episcopal Church. (The process of creating a committee began with province representatives to the national ECW Board recommending candidates for appointment.) To help ensure a diversity of viewpoints, the committee members had different levels of familiarity with ECW. Further, the Board hired Crystal Brook, a consultancy that has worked with a variety of for-profit and nonprofit organizations nationwide, to coordinate and facilitate the work of the Ad Hoc Committee for Restructure. Lisa Towle, secretary of the national ECW Board as well as co-author, with Jennifer Ladefoged, of Resolution 101/104, served as the Board’s liaison to the committee.

The Report

In January of 2014, the Ad Committee for Restructure met at Camp Mitchell, an Episcopal camp and conference center in Arkansas, for its first face-to-face meeting. Also present were the consultants from Crystal Brook and the NECW liaison. Work continued throughout the year with task-based sub-committees and also the committee as a whole communicating variously on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis in a number of ways: e-mail, Skype calls, and Web-based group collaboration tools.

During this period, the committee, via Crystal Brook Consulting, made periodic updates about its progress to the ECW Board. In early October 2014, the committee, the consultants, and the Board liaison gathered in Georgia for a second and last face-to-face meeting in order to prepare a final report and recommendations related to Resolution 101/104. The report and recommendations were given to the national ECW Board in late October 2014 while it met in Nebraska for its last meeting of that year. Since then, the Board has studied and discussed the report and recommendations.

The entire report and its appendices, which include the results of a national survey by the committee about ECW, can be found here. Those who want a printed copy of the report must print it out for themselves. There will be no printed copies available for distribution at Triennial Meeting.

What’s Next

Triennial Meeting delegates are encouraged to read the report in its entirety and come to Triennial Meeting prepared to participate in a deeper discussion about the restructuring of ECW, including the committee’s recommendations regarding changes to the bylaws. The first of the conversations about the report and restructuring will take place on Saturday, June 27 from 7:30-9 a.m.

The current national Board is proposing its own amendments to the bylaws. Those can be found here: BYLAW AMENDMENTS. While at Triennial Meeting, delegates will have an opportunity to vote on these proposals.

It’s also important to note that all Triennial Meeting delegates are entitled to submit their own resolutions for consideration at the Triennial. The deadline for submission of resolutions is May 15, 2015. A resolution form was included in the second delegates’ packet. It can be downloaded here: TM 2015 Resolution Form

If there are questions about any of this please contact Lisa Towle, Board Liaison to the Ad Hoc Committee for Restructure, at (919) 228-8329.